Ben Shepperd,
PBPA President
After another successful Annual Meeting, the Permian Basin Petroleum Association is gearing up for a full legislative session in Texas and New Mexico in 2025, and with your continued support we can ensure that the brightest days still remain ahead for the Permian Basin.
Before we look ahead to the future I would like to take a moment to thank our now former Chairman Tommy Taylor and the retiring members of the board.
Our all volunteer board members take a considerable amount of their valuable time to participate and steer this organization forward. They do this with the same passion that has made them successful businesspeople and community leaders. In addition to their tireless service to many other community organizations, their wonderful families, and their full time jobs, this group of talented people also volunteer their time with PBPA.
And we’re all the better for it.
Tommy Taylor is a giant, literally, in our industry. He is a man who has devoted so much to this community and has steered Fasken Oil and Ranch very ably, and will continue to do so with the wit and wisdom that he lent us for the last two years. We couldn’t have accomplished the success we have had without his leadership and commitment and I am proud to call him a friend and PBPA is all the better because of his service.
I look forward to working closely with another great leader in our community, and our new Chairman Jeff Sparks. A person we all know well, Jeff has been a committed board member for years now and I am thankful that he will be sharing his talents with us for the next two years. PBPA remains in good hands.
Now the years ahead in Texas, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C., remain unknown. While we know the elections and other issues will impact the year ahead, how they will is still a mystery. Regardless several policy issues are taking shape.
In New Mexico, our work to ensure that beneficial reuse of produced water continues to be a priority. Our industry cannot allow shortsightedness or fear dictate what the science and innovation tells us is possible. Our members and the industry at large stand ready to support scalable projects and move forward with testing for safe and responsible beneficial reuse beyond oil and gas applications and with that move our industry forward.
In addition to our work there we continue to see challenges to the right of operators to develop assets, and proposals like the Green Amendment and reform of the Oil and Gas Act likely will continue to present challenges.
In Texas our priorities remain ensuring a fully functioning regulatory environment where agencies like TCEQ and the Railroad Commission of Texas can continue to permit vital industry functions, and we continue to work with our members to determine how best to address the rampant increase of oilfield theft. These actors have been emboldened and we continue to work with local, state, and federal law enforcement to determine what steps to take to ensure that our operators are able to see that these thefts are met with swift justice.
At the federal level, we know the challenges will continue. The PBPA will continue to fight for the industry at every opportunity.
This is the start of another important year for the Permian Basin Petroleum Association and we thank you for your continued support.